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Newsletter ¦ 12th February

Greetings from the Jubilee Centre!

I hope you and your loved ones are well and coping with the third lockdown and the cold weather.

The good news of the week is that all people aged 70 and over can now get a coronavirus vaccination (see part one of this newsletter). We also saw the launch of our new online Tea and Chat Get-Together with Sue, which is still accepting new members (more details in part two). In the third part of the newsletter, we have links to new activities. a consultation about our civic centres and a new knitting project. .

Sadly, we received the news this week that Kath Crawshaw, our manager at the Bury Charity Shop, has passed away following her long and brave fight with cancer. Kath joined our charity in 2005 and she was a highly respected, valued and loved member of our team. She will be greatly missed by everyone at Age UK Bury and our thoughts are with Eric and her family at this sad time. We can pass on cards to her family if you send them to the Jubilee Centre.

Part One: Coronavirus in Bury

In Bury, on Thursday 11th February, 210.5 people per 100,000 were tested positive for coronavirus – a fall of 8% from the previous week’s figure. On the same day, the England average was 188 people testing positive per 100,000 – a fall of 27% from the previous week. The worrying news is that our neighbouring borough, Bolton, has seen a rise of 6% in their infection rates in the past week. Whilst Bolton is the only Greater Manchester borough to have seen a rise, it is a sobering reminder that the virus is far from beaten. 

Bury residents are living under the regulations of the National Lockdown, which was outlined in my email on Tuesday 5th January. A link to that email is here: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/bury/our-services/coronavirus/newsletter--5th-january/

Vaccination

If you are aged 70 or over, you can now book your own coronavirus vaccination at this link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

Bury Council and Bury CCG have now vaccinated over 35,000 people. This means that more than 19% of the eligible population (182,100) have been given at least one of the two jabs necessary to protect against this potentially fatal illness. This is a tremendous achievement. 

The Bury Council website has a page about the vaccine at https://www.bury.gov.uk/coronavirus-vaccine

If you have problems in getting to the centre where your vaccination is planned, we have been informed NHS Responders can help. Call 0808 196 3646 for more details.

Click on this link for this week's Bury Council / Bury CCG update 

Dementia UK has produced guidance on how best to support people who experience dementia with the vaccination process. Click here: Giving the Covid-19 vaccine to someone living with dementia - Dementia UK

Our friends at Age UK have produced a webpage answering the main questions about the Covid-19 vaccine. Click onto https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/coronavirus/coronavirus-guidance/coronavirus-vaccine/

Part two: Our support to you

Tea and Chat with Sue on Zoom

Sue is running a Tuesday afternoon Tea and Chat session, giving people a chance to catch up with friends.  

Our free online chats will take place from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm. To join us, send an email to Sue at taichi.college@yahoo.co.uk for an access code and link. Get your best china out!

This class is available on the Zoom platform. To download the free app, go to https://zoom.us/ 

Tai Chi with Sue

Sue also holds a Tai Chi class online on Fridays at 11.00 am. Send an email to taichi.college@yahoo.co.uk for an access code and link.

Sue has kindly set up a new group on Facebook for all who are interested in Tai Chi - click onto https://www.facebook.com/groups/144906774110472 or search for “Age UK Bury Tai Chi Group”. Thank you, Sue. 

Diana's classes

Diana will be live on our Facebook page on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

  • Monday: 11.00 to 11.45 am: Gentle Exercise
  • Monday: 11.50 to 12.35 Chair Based Exercise
  • Tuesday: 10.00 to 10.45: DanceFit 
  • Wednesday: 11.00 to 12.00 am: Pilates 

If you can’t make these times, Facebook will let you watch at a later time.

Join us at https://www.facebook.com/ageukbury/ Thank you Diana.

Telephone helpline and online support 

We will be answering the Age UK Bury office telephone – 0161 763 9030 - from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm every weekday throughout the lock down. If we can not help, we are sure to find someone who can! If you get the answerphone, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. 

We will update people with latest news on

This weekly newsletter comes out on Friday. Urge your friends to sign up at our subscription page.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, we are trying to keep essential support services open. These include: 

Support from our national Partner, Age UK

  • The Age UK Advice Line is 0800 678 1602 from 8 am to 7 pm, every day of the year.
  • If you would just like to have a friendly natter with another person, please call The Silver Line 24 hours a day on 0800 470 80 90.

Support from Bury Council 

If you are self-isolating or don't have any other support, Bury Community Hubs are still here to help with food shopping and collecting medicine supplies. 

  • Phone 0161 253 5353 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
  • Greater Manchester Text phone: Dial 07860 022876 (Messages will be responded to on the next working day)

Support for people living with Dementia and their carers

Bury Council and Bury CCG have produced a guide of local resources for people living with dementia and their carers – Click this link for the guide

Closures

Due to government restrictions, our Jubilee Centre café, charity shops and activities, including Diana’s Nordic Walking group, have closed. 

Part Three: And in other news

Bury Civic Venues consultation 

Bury Council operates three Civic Venues - The Elizabethan Suite, Longfield Suite and Ramsbottom Civic Hall. Currently, all three venues operate at a loss, and are also in need of significant financial investment in future years.

Following a meeting of the Council's Cabinet on 24 November 2020, closure of all three venues is proposed as an option, on a permanent basis, in order to generate ongoing savings, and to avoid the cost of future capital investment. However, a decision has not yet been made, and residents are now being urged to take part in an eight-week consultation survey and put forward their views.

The consultation will run for a period of 8 weeks until 17 March 2021, and the survey is on the One Community website at One Community Bury - Bury Council Civic Venues Feedback Survey.

Before the pandemic, many older people in Bury used these facilities for various classes and dancing events, and they provided a vital lifeline for many people.If your activities are affected, now is the time to tell Bury Council how important they are. 

National Insurance Number Scam

A reader received an automated telephone call saying that her “National Insurance number has been compromised” and in order to fix this and get a new number, she needed to “press 1 on their handset to be connected to the caller”.

She put the phone down but if she had pressed “1”, she would have been pressured into giving over her personal details in order to receive a new National Insurance number.

To report any scam, go to https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/. You can let us know of scams operating in Bury at news@ageukbury.org.uk and we will inform our readers. 

Dementia Research – volunteers needed

Vital studies into early diagnosis, prevention, improving care and new treatments for dementia are taking place in the UK – but more volunteers are needed!

“Join Dementia Research” is a service which allows people to register their interest in hearing about research opportunities in dementia research. It helps people with dementia, their carers, or anyone interested in dementia research to be matched to studies.

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the support line at the Alzheimer’s Society on 0333 150 3456 and ask for the “Join Dementia Research” helpdesk. Alternatively, you can email joindementiaresearch@alzheimers.org.uk

The researchers will be online on 23rd and 24th February 2021 to explain their work.  More information at: https://www.institutemh.org.uk/events/event/139-centre-for-dementia-research-talks

Activities at the Royal Voluntary Service

The RVS has set up a Virtual Village Hall offering a range of online activities which include piano melodies with Lincoln, poetry reading with Rowan the Poet and cooking pancakes with the Boozy Bakers.

Go to https://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/virtual-village-hall/

Ready, set, kniiiiittt!

This lockdown, dust off your knitting needles, pull up a pattern and make some little hats to go on top of an innocent smoothy bottle, raising money for older people’s services.

For more information go to https://bit.ly/3nGJq7l

When your hats are ready, drop them off at the Jubilee Centre and we will get them to the innocent company.  

Members News

A belated Happy 40th Birthday to Andrea, who leads our Tea Dance afternoon on Thursdays. Andrea had a great day catching up with all her friends on Zoom and when we can all get back together, we will party in style!

The Quiz

Last week's quiz was a Mixed Bag and the answers are in the link.

This week’s quiz is a Picture Quiz. The quiz is just for fun and to keep you out of mischief. The answers will be in the next newsletter.  

Keep warm and stay safe. We will be back next week - send us any news to share with others. 

Andy and all at Age UK Bury 

 

The Lido froze over on Thursday